Risk Taking as an Outcome of an Alcohol Harm Reduction Trial

Abstract

Alcohol related risk taking behaviors are often assessed within measures of alcohol related problems and consequences. Although some research has found evidence that brief intervention on certain risk taking behaviors is effective, the larger scope of risk taking behaviors is often ignored. The present study aims to fill the gap of risk taking measures by (a) identifying a subscale from a scale assessing alcohol-related risk and consequences that captures risk taking behavior outside of alcohol consumption, (b) confirming that this risk taking scale holds across samples and (c) that the risk taking measure will show change over time, and (d) evaluating whether the risk taking scale is moderated by a brief intervention treatment. Results indicated that there a risk taking scale could be identified over a larger scale of risks and consequences. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the factor structure of the scale. And finally, growth curve modeling provided evidence for measuring risk taking over time. In the current study, no effect of treatment was found on risk taking, though due to study design, this was not unexpected.